


Tainted Love

by VideoGameImagines



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman: Arkham (Video Games), Batman: Arkham - All Media Types, Video Games - Fandom
Genre: Batman - Freeform, Batman: Arkham Knight - Freeform, F/M, Gen, Reader-Insert, Slight trigger warning, reader - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 00:46:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6216820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VideoGameImagines/pseuds/VideoGameImagines
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt Request- the Reader is dating Batman and the Scarecrow finds out, kidnaps the reader, and injects her with the fear toxin. Batman finally gets the reader back but she is already under the effects of the toxin and is terrified of him. It was also requested that Batman tries to help her through it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tainted Love

**Author's Note:**

> AN: Hello Everyone! I’m back with another prompt request for Batman: Arkham Knight with a Batman X Reader story requested by an anonymous Tumblr user. The story is set within the events of Batman: Arkham Knight it will follow some plot points of the game with a twist. Warning: There is a scene in this story that could be a trigger for some readers. If you have played Batman: Arkham Knight then you may know the scene that I am referring to. So when the scene is about to occur I will mark its start and end (with this: xxxx).Keep in mind that there are some darker themes and events throughout this installment of the Arkham series. Okay the request was; the Reader is dating Batman and the Scarecrow finds out, kidnaps the reader, and injects her with the fear toxin. Batman finally gets the reader back but she is already under the effects of the toxin and is terrified of him. It was also requested that Batman tries to help her through it. Disclaimer: I do not own Batman: Arkham Knight or the character s from the DC universe. As always I hope I did the prompt justice and I hope you all enjoy it especially the wonderful anon who requested this prompt

It seemed like just yesterday that things were good not perfect but good Gotham had a little bit of the kind of peace that it deserved. But that all changed on Halloween night, when the Scarecrow made his presence known and threatened the entirety of the city with his new fear toxin and bombs spread throughout the city. After that it was complete hysteria, six million people just up fled from Gotham and now it seemed the city belonged to the worst of the worst.  
You sat in front of your enormous computer watching in horror as villains and criminals flooded the streets and terrorized the remaining GCPD police officers; sometimes gunning them down in the street. From your screen you could see Two Face and Penguin walking the streets and if they were out and about Harley certainly wasn’t far behind. You laid your head in your hands and sighed, every enemy that Bruce ever made as Batman would surely be after him. Bruce had actually encouraged you to evacuate as well but you were nothing if not stubborn and you had decided to stay right here in Gotham.  
You understood why Bruce wanted you to leave after all the two of you had been dating for quite a while but you both kept that quiet. With Bruce’s secret identity came the possibility that you could be used against him should his enemies find out. But after what you saw that night you couldn’t just leave Bruce you were going to stay and help in any way you could. You turned toward Barbara as she finished up her phone call with her father Jim; she was deceiving her father into believing that she had actually joined the other evacuees. You knew it killed her to lie to her father but she was determined to stay behind put an end to this madness. Barbara Gordon was the best friend that you could have asked for. The two of you had been friends for what felt like a lifetime; It almost seemed like the two of you were family  
Barbara sighed and hung up the phone, you turned to her, “How is your father holding up?”  
Barbara gave you a weak smile, “All things considered he is holding up remarkably well, somehow he always does. I just wish I didn’t have to lie to him…”  
You nodded in understanding and returned to your computer screen and attempted to track the militia force, something in the pit of your stomach told you that there was someone behind the scenes pulling the strings. It wasn’t even five minutes that Barbara received a call from Bruce asking about the location of a missing patrol car; Barbara only had to glance in your direction and you were off. The patrol car was easy enough to find, it was in Chinatown so you patched the coordinates over to Barbara and she in turn patched it over to Batman. Within a few minutes the video footage showed Batman saving a wounded police officer and then hoping into the bat mobile to give chase to a speeding car/> While all that happened you found your attention was being drawn to a different part of Gotham where several of what appeared to be tanks were gathering. They were heavily armored and their weaponry could put any militia to shame and that idea alone frightened you. These tanks were unlike anything you had seen but could this be Scarecrow’s doing? You highly doubted it his warfare tended to be psychological rather than strictly physical; no this had to be someone new.  
Barbara received another call from Bruce you still had your eyes glued to your screen up until you heard her gasp. Your head snapped up in Barbara’s direction, “Is this what I think it is?”  
You heard the booming voice of Bruce’s alter ego asking Barbara to analyze the chemical make-up analysis of Scarecrow’s toxin. You jumped out of your seat and walked over toward Barbara looking over her shoulder at the sample of the toxin. Oh my god… an actual undiluted and uncontaminated sample. Bruce looked in your direction and you could have sworn that you saw a ghost of a smile on his normally stoic face. That aside this toxin sample could be a real game changer and exactly what you would need to stop Scarecrow.  
For the next two hours you sat with Barbara and studied the toxin sample and you hated to admit but the toxin was impressive. Scarecrow was an evil bastard but this toxin was incredibly sophisticated. Suddenly the one and only Batman dropped in through the roof of the clock tower; he always did like dramatic entrances. He greeted you and Barbara before looking at the full analysis of Scarecrow’s toxin. Batman picked out the bursts of energy that were given off in the toxin’s creation process and suggested a scan of the city for any building or factory that matched that burst. Batman and Barbara talked amongst themselves for a little bit but he seemed to be in a hurry…  
And with that Batman was rushing of to his next lead but you managed to grab his arm gently and he turned toward you and grabbed your hand. You spoke quietly, so that only he could hear, “Bruce, please promise me that you’ll come back to me after all of this is over… Promise me that you’ll come back.”  
You were getting emotional, but Bruce was upholding his alter ego rather well, he had a firm grasp on both of your hands as he spoke, “Y/N, I will always come back to you, I promise.”  
You gave him a nod, as you reined your emotions in, “Please be careful… just watch yourself out there.”  
He nodded and backed away, “Stay safe, Y/N.” and with that he was gone from the clock tower.  
You cleaned yourself up a little and returned to Barbara’s station to help her find where that heat signature could have originated from. It took a little time but the heat signature was coming from Ace Chemicals. Barbara contacted Batman to let him know the good news and you returned to your own station. You focused on Ace chemicals and what you saw was terrifying there were troops everywhere, these weren’t common thugs and degenerates… no this was a highly trained and capable militia. You wanted to contact Batman but he was already there, you could see his bat mobile pulling up to the gate, so there was no real point.  
In the corner of your eye you noticed the screens that showed the perimeter of the clock tower, heavily armored vehicles and soldiers were making their way in; you had to act fast. You grabbed your handgun, strapped to the bottom of your desk, and hurried over to Barbara, “Barbara, stop what you’re doing!”  
She looked up at you, you pushed her wheelchair toward the secret room, “Y/N, what are you doing?”  
You sighed, “There are heavily armed men making their way up here right now and so you are going to stay safe while I deal with them. You are going to hide and no matter what you hear you are going to stay hidden, okay?”  
Barbara just looked at you obviously frightened, “No! Y/N what about you?”  
You smiled, albeit weakly, “They coming here to kidnap at least one of us and I won’t let them take you. Batman is going to need you, Oracle.” You reach over and enter a passcode into the bookshelf and it slides open.  
You help Barbara inside the room and are about to close the door, when she speaks, “Please, Y/N… this will crush him. He needs you.”  
You gave her a sad smile, “I’m sorry but he’ll find me… just in case when you two see each other, tell him that I love him and I’m sorry.”  
Without another word you closed the door, when you turned around you could hear the thundering footsteps of several soldiers approaching the door. You checked over your gun and took a deep breath trying to calm your nerves; the door opened slightly and three cans were thrown in. You mentally cursed as white smoke filled the room in a matter of seconds; your eyes were watering and your lungs began to burn. Suddenly you heard the soldiers stomping into the room and you managed to fire off a few shots but being that you were having trouble seeing you couldn’t be sure that any of your bullets actually hit.  
Suddenly you were being thrown against a wall and as the smoke began to clear a man in a gas mask had his hand around your throat. He lifted you up slightly, and you struggled violently against him unable to breathe under his harsh grip. His voice was somewhat distorted by the gas mask when he began talking, “It’s her, this is Y/N.” The man held up a photo of you that was obviously taken without your knowledge; why did he have it? The man loosened his grip and spoke, “This is the one that Scarecrow wanted.”  
What? You were the one that Scarecrow wanted? You reasoned with yourself that at least they weren’t here to take Barbara and you hoped that she would remain safe. The Soldiers rushed you to the ground floor of the clock tower and then threw you into their heavily armored vehicle as more soldiers filed in after you. One of the soldiers leaned in and put a sack over your heard, “It’s so you can’t see where we’re going.  
You laughed at him, “Right, this bag over my head is sure going to help. I mean it’s not like I’ve been living in Gotham for the entirety of my life and happen to know Gotham like the back of my hand.”  
The soldier growled in frustration, “Just, shut up!” The rest of ride was done so in silence until they stopped and got out of the car. You laughed quietly, Chinatown, they took you to Chinatown?”  
You were pulled up several flights of stairs before your makeshift blindfold was removed and you saw something you never expected; the Scarecrow was standing in front of you with his back turned. He began walking over to you, “Ah, so kind of you to join us, Y/N.”  
You glared at Scarecrow, “Why am I here? How do you know me?”  
Scarecrow just laughed lowly, “Y/N, you are going to help me bait Batman.”  
You tried to play it cool, “What are you talking about? I don’t even know Batman if you want to bait him into coming you should probably search elsewhere.”  
Scarecrow shook his head, “Admirable attempt, Y/N, but I know for a fact that you’re very dear to him. The two of you weren’t being as careful and discrete as you had thought you were. He loves you and love is notorious for making people do stupid and reckless things.” Scarecrow motioned to someone behind you, “But first, you’re going to help me test something… a direct injection of my fear toxin.”  
Before Scarecrow was finished speaking you felt the syringe stab you in the neck and you began to panic. Suddenly the soldiers that were restraining you were no longer human they were monsters, with the pale skin that was peeling off in certain places. They didn’t have any eyes just dark vacant holes and rows upon rows of sharp fangs. You looked around the room and there was blood everywhere. Suddenly the monsters beside you were holding you down and trying to tear you into pieces.  
Your heart was hammering in your chest and you were desperately trying to get them off you but they were too strong. You tried to stand up but you were thrown back down on the floor and your head hit the ground with a thud. And then there was nothing just darkness. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
When you finally came to you realized that you were sitting in a chair, to your right there was a metal table that held nothing but a loaded gun. Looking around you realized that the room you were in was actually more of a cage; all of the walls were made of glass and directly behind you were several television screens. You looked around again and took in your surroundings; your eyes landed on the looming figure of Batman. You got up and walked over placing your hand upon the glass, he mirrored your actions and he began talking but the glass was too thick for you to be able to hear him. With his mask on you could only really see his eyes but there was a sense of desperation and fear in them.  
Suddenly the television screens hissed to life and a thick white smoke poured in through the vents; in a matter a seconds the room was filled with what you realized was Scarecrow’s toxin. You stumbled blindly towards the table and fell to your knees, the gas burned your eyes and lungs, and it was too difficult to take a breath without choking on a cough. Then Scarecrow’s face came into to focus on the television screen and your heartbeat picked up as you felt the panic start to set in. No, no, no, no! This was not happening… not again!  
Scarecrow’s voice filtered into the room, “Y/N, do you know why he’s here? The Batman is here to kill you. He will never stop coming after you and he will always find you. You will never be safe. As long as you live he will come after you.”  
You turned around and let out a blood curdling scream when you took in the figure that was now before you; instead of the fearful eyes that you remembered they were replaced with bright red bloodthirsty orbs. The figure in front of you began to pound on the glass violently it’s as if he was trying to get to you. As he continued to pound on the glass you got a good look at his hands and noticed that they were turning into grotesquely elongated claws. Scarecrow kept taunting you through the television and the more he talked the more that the creature morphed into your worst nightmare. You were screaming and crying out hysterically but that just seemed to spur your tormentor on to pound on the glass even harder. You just wanted it to stop to end the horror and choking fear.  
The more that Batman pounded on the glass the clearer it became that he was here to kill you or worse torment you. Then you suddenly remembered the gun on the table and you fumbled around until you had a firm grip on it. You cocked the gun and with shaking hands you aimed at Batman and fired off two shots but with a cry of despair you realized that the glass was bulletproof and you would run out of bullets before you could actually stop Batman.  
The slamming on the glass got even harder and louder, with tears in your eyes you decided that you didn’t want Batman to get a hold of you because nothing could be worse than what he would do to you. You were sobbing as you made your decision; your hands were shaking so violently that you had to grip the gun with both hands as you lifted it up to your head and pulled the trigger. You felt yourself falling and that feeling seemed to go on forever as you were enveloped in darkness.  
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
You woke up leaning against a wall but before you could sort out what happened a soldier came and pulled you up off the floor. He walked you up some stairs until you reached the roof. You were led over to where Scarecrow was standing but upon your arrival you saw two very familiar people. Batman and Jim Gordon, you were relieved to see that they were both unharmed.  
From what you could see of Bruce’s face, he looked shocked and deeply relieved; but why? What happened? You were having trouble remembering some of the events that happened just after you were brought to Scarecrow. You vaguely remember being injected with the toxin but after that it was blank. Bruce looked between you and Scarecrow and growled, “Let her go, now!”  
Things started happening quickly after that, Jim turned his gun on Bruce and you began to panic apparently Jim had made a deal with Scarecrow. The deal was to lure Batman to the Scarecrow in exchange for your release; he simply stated that you were like a daughter to him and he would what he had to for your protection. Jim shot Bruce and he fell off of the edge of the building and you let out an earth-shattering scream. Scarecrow grabbed you and hurriedly dragged you to the edge of the roof and using every ounce of courage you had you looked him in the eye, “I am not afraid of you.”  
He merely chuckled, “Always so brave… You would be wise to be afraid. Don’t fight it.” And then he pushed you over the edge and you were screaming as you flew toward the ground but before you made an impact Bruce grabbed you and shielded you from the fall. He was alive!  
Once you were on the ground you threw your arms around him and sobbed, “How did you survive? Gordon shot you… I saw it.”  
Bruce simply pointed to the black bat symbol on his chest, “He was very careful. He knew exactly what he was doing.”  
A firefight broke out and Bruce did his best to shield you, “Where is your bat mobile?  
Bruce yelled over the volley of incoming bullets, “It was destroyed but don’t worry Lucius made a spare.” Sure enough a spare bat mobile arrived just in time and you were able to get inside and drive back to the GCPD where you would be staying until Bruce took down Scarecrow.  
Everything happened so quickly after that, you survived the GCPD attack and watched in horror as Bruce was revealed in front of everyone. Ultimately you were incredibly relieved when Bruce was able to overpower Scarecrow with his own fear toxin against him and eventually bring him down. It was finally over Gotham was finally free and Bruce was alive; a little worse for wear but alive nonetheless.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Images of the Scarecrow plagued your dreams and you woke up in a cold sweat; just as you did most nights since Scarecrow’s defeat. Bruce was still sound asleep beside you and you didn’t want to wake him; he deserved any kind of rest or peace that he could get, so you quietly inched out of the bed and tiptoed into the next room. You stood in front of a large window overlooking Wayne manor and you ended up losing yourself in your thoughts.  
You wondered what life would be like now that Bruce’s alter ego had been revealed; so far outside of the obsessive publicity things were okay. You were so lost in your thoughts that you didn’t hear Bruce as he approached you from behind.  
A strong pair of arms enveloped you and pulled you back tightly until you collided with Bruce’s chest. He held you like that for a moment and place a kiss on top of your head, “What are you doing out of bed? Did you have another nightmare?”  
You turned around and buried your face into his neck and weakly answered, “Yeah it’s the same dream… it’s always the same dream.”  
Bruce bent over and picked you up gently carrying you to a nearby couch and sat down; wrapping you up in his arms. He spoke softly and soothingly, “You know that you can wake me up whenever you need me. I will always be here for you; for as long as you will have me.”  
You looked up at him and cupped his cheeks rubbing your thumbs around in gentle circles before you pulled him in for a kiss. You tried your best to hold back your tears, “Thank you, Bruce. I’m sorry for the trouble that I’m causing… I was hoping that I would get over this but it still haunts me.”  
He gave you a sad smile, “Y/N, I will always be here for you, no matter what… because I love you.”  
You gave him a small smile and ran your fingers through his hair soothingly, “I love you, too. And thank you.”  
After a moment he gently took your hand, “Y/N there’s something that we need to talk about. I’m going to initiate the Knightfall Protocol, it’s time.”  
That took you by surprise, “Bruce are you sure? Once you initiate Knightfall Protocol there is no going back.”  
He gently caressed a path along your jaw, “Gotham doesn’t need Batman anymore so it was only a matter of time. But I want you with me when I do it.”  
You nodded in understanding, “If you are serious about this then I will be with you every step of the way.”


End file.
